The Shepherd’s Care
The LORD is my
shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me
beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of
righteousness For His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff,
they comfort me. (Psalm
32:1-4)
“The LORD is my shepherd, I
shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside
quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they
comfort me.” These
matchless words have brought great comfort to countless numbers of people; they
have served to wipe alway oceans of tears; many have used them to express their
faith in the goodness and watchfulness of Almighty God. We could well do
without many volumes of books before we could part with these simple but
classic lines. No verses of scripture are so universally known as these verses
which have come to us out of the rich, full, and deep experience of the
shepherd lad who became king over God’s chosen people.
Many people have wondered in
what period of his life David wrote these words, I imagine that they were
written in those final days when his eyesight was becoming dim and David was
making final preparations to meet his maker. The early years of David’s life
were spent upon the mountain slopes shepherding the sheep of his father,
Jessie. David was an excellent shepherd. We know this from his own testimony,
for he tells us the manner in which he protected his charges from attacks from marauding
beasts of prey. He must have been a good shepherd or else God would not have
chosen him to shepherd His people, Israel. Perhaps, as David sat near the end
of his life reviewing the experiences of his life, he was amazed at the
marvelous manner in which God had cared for and had protected him. As he
thought of his days as a shepherd and how he cared for and protected his sheep,
it suddenly dawned on him that God was the great shepherd who cares for His
human sheep. David burst forth with this marvelous confession of faith. “The
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” With this revelation in his heart and
this confession upon his lips, David goes on and sets down what it is that the
shepherd God does for His children as He leads them along the pathway of life.
The lives of God’s sheep seem
to be overburdened with hardship, sorrow, and adversity. It seems that the
majority of our days are spent in sadness. In the Psalms of David we find more
reference to sin, sorrow, and sadness than the righteousness, joy, and
gladness. It seems, as we look back over our life, that there were more rainy
and cloudy days than clear and sunny days. Of course that isn’t true, for days
of joy do exceed days of sorrow. We gain this false sense of proportion because
rainy, sorrowful days live longer in our memory. It is such days that change
our way of living and thus make a deeper and more lasting impression upon us.
When we pass through some trials we live more intensely and thus that
experience receives over emphasis, they seem to fill more time and space on our
lives than they really do. David, who was a keen observer of human nature, knew
this tendency to overemphasis on the sorrows of life and thus he begins his
psalm by telling us how the shepherd cares for and supplies the needs of the
soul who trust in Him.
First of all the shepherd
causes his sheep to lie down in green pastures, and he leads them before the
still waters. In these words we see that the shepherd supplies rest, food, and
drink for all his weary sheep. The sun is hot, the land is baked, there is no
food in sight, but the shepherd knows where there is a brook flowing thorough
the parched land, and along the banks of that brook there frown green herbage.
To this pasture land the shepherd leads his sheep and there he makes them lie
down, and rest in peace and contentment. God does the same for His children,
after the storm comes rest, after the turmoil comes the peace of God that
passeth all understanding. Notice that the shepherd makes the sheep lie down,
makes the sheep rest in preparation for future journeys. How often, by some
experience God makes us realize that rest and peace of soul is found only in
trust in Him.
After rest, comes food. You
can’t enjoy food when you are tired, after a hard days work don’t you enjoy
sitting down and resting a few moments before eating your meal. Doctors tell us
that our food is not easily digested if we eat while tired. Beloved, notice
that the sheep found rest where there food was. We, too, find rest in the very
midst of our food. Our food is the every living, the every green pasture of the
Word of God. While resting in the inspired Word we find rest and contentment
and at the same time we find food for our souls. The Word of God, milk for
lambs, pasture for the sheep, never barren, never eaten bare, always a green pasture
for faith to dwell in. Of the sheep of God the Psalmist said, “His delight is
in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” Let us
not just pass through them, but let us lie down in them, feed upon them. “The
law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is
sure making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the
heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.”
Refreshment follows rest and
food. The shepherd leads his sheep beside the still waters. This is the most
beautiful picture of the whole psalm. Here in we see the greatest need of the sheep
supplied. We can endure foodless days, sleepless nights so long as we do not
have to endure thirsty ones. We must have the refreshment of water. As the
shepherd leads his sheep throughout the day, he has one thought in mind; he
must lead them to water. Without the refreshment of water the sheep will not be
able to go on the next days march. By themselves the sheep could not find the
water, they are entirely dependant upon the shepherd for refreshment in this
rough world, and the sheep depend on the shepherd to lead them to the water.
The shepherd leads; he does not drive his sheep. They trust him and they follow
him. Our shepherd God does not drive us we must follow Him.
God in His wise providence,
by His Word and through His Spirit leads us beside still waters. Haven’t you at
times been weary, sad, broken hearted, tired and hasn’t God led you into the
path of refreshment. At such time haven’t you opened your bible to just the
right passage, haven’t you received a letter of encouragement from a friend,
haven’t you been led to some piece of literature that has brought a needed
refreshment or perhaps someone spoke the word that was needed. God provides not
only food and rest but also refreshment.
“He leadeth me in the paths
of righteousness for His names sake.” In the shepherd country of Palestine it
is often hard to chose the right path for the sheep. One path may lead to a
steep precipice, and another may lead to poor pasture land, or another may lead
into a blind alley. Therefore the shepherd who knows where the path leads goes
before and leads his sheep into the right path. He does this for the sake of
his name. He wants his sheep to go to the right places, to walk the correct
path so that no stain will come upon his name.
We can’t spend all of our
time in the place of food, rest, and refreshment. We must move on after we have
received our refreshment to new heights to new attainments. As we move on our
shepherd goes before us and leads us in the right path. Through His Word,
through His Spirit, and by our conscience He leads along the straight and
narrow path that leads to life eternal. This is truly the most pleasant path in
which to walk. The way of righteousness is the way of peace. But we cannot walk
in this path save as we allow the Great Shepherd to lead us to them, to lead us
in them, and to lead us through them. God gives us this guidance for “His names
sake.” He does it so that through us others might come to truly know Him as He
has revealed Himself. As we follow we must do nothing that will bring discredit
unto His name.
The sheep do not know enough
to stay in the fold. They know perfectly well how to stray from the rest of the
flock. There are perilous places along the path of travel and often the sheep
stray into these. Thus the shepherd is constantly on the watch. When the sheep
strays he must go and bring back the one which strayed. Thus the sheep says,
“He restoreth my soul.”
Men are prone to wonder from
the pathway of righteousness. He wants to go where sins allurement is, the
grass across the valley looks greener than the grass behind the leader and so
we stray from the straight and narrow path. When we do the shepherd sees and
comes and leads us back. He doesn’t force us to come back, often times he
pleads, knocks and beseeches but he never forces. If it wasn’t for the care of
the shepherd none of us would remain very long within the flock. Let us praise
God that although He permits us to fall into the path of sin, He doesn’t allow
us to lie in it.
Sometimes the paths that are
right paths lead through places that have deadly perils. The road of life is
not always bright but sometimes it must dip down into canyons of gloom. As we
look forward upon our path we see the possibility of many sorrows and the
certainty of some. Even when we walk through the land of sorrow we have the
assurance that our shepherd is with us. “Yes, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” All who are
in sorrow are in that valley of which the psalmist speaks. I want you to notice
several things about that valley. First it is only a shadow. Shadows do not last;
they pass away with the coming light. A shadow cannot hurt the shadow of a serpent
never stung; the shadow of a sword never killed. It is a valley, deep, dark,
dirty perhaps but valleys are always fruitful. Usually a stream flows through
the valley which irrigates the soil and causes vegetation to grow. The valley
of sorrow produces many fruits in the life of the Christian. “Tribulation
worketh patience, patience worketh hope.” Though we walk through the valley, we
do not linger or stay, we are not lost in it but go on through to the pleasant
pasture beyond.
The valley holds no fear for
us because the shepherd is with us. He will allow no harm to come upon us. The
sheep never worry and never fear so long as the shepherd is with them. There is
nothing that can separate the shepherd from his sheep. He is always with them.
We can pass through the valley of sorrow with this assurance that our Shepherd
is with us and underneath are the everlasting arms. As the shepherd leads his
sheep he is armed with a rod and a staff. The rod is used to beat off wild
animals which would prey upon the flock, the staff is used for guiding the
sheep or for lifting one out of a hole in which he might have fallen. The
presence of these weapons adds to the comfort of the sheep. So long as the
shepherd is so armed they know that nothing will be able to harm them. As David
looked back over his life he saw how the staff of the Lord had guided him and
how the rod had driven off his enemies. God guided David to the battlefield
where the Philistines were battling the children of Israel. God guided him
there at the moment when the giant Goliath came out and made his boast. God
guided his lamb David to give battle to the giant and the rod of the Lord
protected David from Goliath. So it had been all through his life, God had
guided David through the valleys, over the mountains, into green pasture land.
Through it all God supplied every need of David.
It is no wonder that David
as he neared the end of his life said, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not
want.” It has been true in the past and David knew that it would be true in the
future. It would be true because David would not change shepherds. God had
guided him this far and David would ever remain in the flock of God.
This confession of assurance
which David made could be the confession of each one of us. The Lord wants to
be the true Shepherd of every one of us. But He cannot lead until we become a
member of His flock. By nature we are not members of the flock of God. I am
told that often in a large flock of sheep you will see a lamb that apparently
has six legs. Upon inquiry you will be told something like. The mother of that
lamb died, it is an orphan. The lamb was placed in another flock but the mother
lamb of that flock would not accept it. Fortunately for the lamb a sheep of
that flock died. It was carefully skinned and its skin was placed over the
orphan lamb. Since it was longer than the orphan lamb its hind legs hung over
the back of the orphan. The orphan thus clothed in the skin of another was
placed in the flock. The mother smelled her own breed upon the orphan lamb and
accepted it into her flock. We too are orphans, but we can be clothed in the
garments of Christ and thus be assured of acceptance in the fold of God. When
we thus clothe our selves and are willing to be led by the shepherd our
testimony will be like David’s, “Because the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not
want, for rest, nourishment, refreshment, or guidance along the trail.
Dr. Robert W
Kirkpatrick
Hobbs Chapel,
February 22, 1944
